After a long time, I've finally managed to set up my Jemini through the Legacy 1 head into a 1960 Marshall cab. Firstly, I put the Jemini through the dirty channel....sounded flabby, muddy and crap....so did a bit of research and now see that I should have put it through the clean channel. But I'm not that impressed. It sounds far too light and doesn't have much depth.

I know it's naive to think I can match Steve's tone, but it just seems to 'light' for me. I don't get much all out grunt and attack. Can I run two distortions together?

Also, should I flick the switch on the back of the Legacy to 100W to get more gain? Is that how it works.

Just so you now, I also use a Rockcrusher attenuator so that my neighbours don't call the police.

You'll get more gain/overdrive when its on 50w than 100- at 100 there's so much headroom its hard to overdrive the amp

I think the JEMINI is a great sounding pedal- really impressed me-

I've never liked the Legacy- it sounds great for Vai but not for me... and to me a Legacy isn't INSTANT VAI

A Mesa Boogie Rectifier is pretty much instant Metallica- a JMP/DSL/whatever marshall is instant SLASH but with Vai the amp doesn't do it... the Legacy is Vai's amp of choice but someone else buying it doesn't get instant vai out of it.(in real life-- the legacy in my axe fx ii sounds like instant vai)

NOWhere's the most mindblowing thing- and the only way you can really learn this is going to LA and plugging into Vai's amp...

to most guitarists- his sound is extremely sustaining and saturated-however in real life- there is 10x less gain on his tone than you think- as gain/distored it sounds- in real life- his tone is FAR less distorted/driven/saturated than you think-- it shocked me...basically- he's just that fucking good at guitar.

so really Vai's tone is a lot more backed down on the gain and pedals than what we do when we try to do it-

its not in the pedals or amp- its really in his hands and fingers... he can play one of his songs with evo and the fucking note will sustain for days- while anyone else would get a barely light acdc crunch tone out of that-

but the legacy isn't for everyone-i need mesa boogie- legacy doesn't do it for me

Thanks for your reply. I actually agree on the amount of distortion you say Steve uses. Same with Nuno Bettencourt.He actually uses a lot less than you would think, they just make their fingers work harder.

However, I've been playing around with the Jemini and am a bit disappointed. I might try and get my hands on an ADA MP1 (cheaper than buying a new amp). HOWEVER, quick question, can you put the ADA MP1 straight into a cab or would I still need the Legacy? Working out rigs and set-ups is not my speciality...Thanks for your help.

the preamp takes the signal of the guitar through the cable which is incredibly quiet- and amplifies it to a level that you can do something with.

then the preamp sends that signal to the power amp- which takes that signal and amplifies it a HELL of a lot more enough to put a signal through a cable that can drive a speaker.

A Mesa Boogie Triaxis and ADA MP-1 are preamps- so they need a power amp to drive speakers

you can buy a cheap power amp that's JUST a power amp (mosvalve) or an expensive one (Mesa boogie 2:90) OR you can slave an amp

meaning use an amp just for the power amp-

so you can use a MP-1 as a preamp with the legacy as a power amp by plugging the output of the MP1 into the EFFECTS LOOP RETURN of the Legacy- that bypasses the preamp section of the amp- the knobs won't work- the amp has no control over the tone. you'res slaving it

you can use a head just as a slave- a mesa 290 is $700 used and 1500 new- you can buy for $500 a guitar head like a legacy used- then slave it just for a power amp if you want or still have it as a real amp toojust more shit to carry